Athletics
First in the women’s javelin throw qualification round the US failed to get a competitor in the final as Brittany Borman (15th – 59.27m), Kara Patterson (31st – 56.23m) , and Rachel Turkovich (24th – 57.92m) couldn’t reach the top 12 (60.11m).
First on the track was the men’s 110m hurdles. Jason Richardson (1st – 13.33), Jeff Porter (3rd – 13.53), and Aries Merritt (1st – 13.07) all advanced to the semifinals on Wednesday.
Then in the men’s triple jump qualification Will Claye (7th – 16.87m) and Christian Taylor (1st – 17.21m) reached Thursday’s final. Taylor had the best jump of the day while only going once, he’s a definite favorite to medal on Thursday.
Next on the track was the women’s 5000m 1st round. In the first heat Julie Culley (5th – 15:05.38) advanced while Molly Huddle (5th – 15:02.26) advanced from the 2nd heat. Kim Conley(12th – 15:14.48) was unable to advance from the 2nd heat. The final is on Friday.
The morning session ended with the men’s 200m 1st round. Isiah Young (3rd – 20.55), Maurice Mitchell (1st – 20.54), and Wallace Spearmon (2nd – 20.47) all moved into the semifinals on Wednesday.
The men’s high jump final started off the afternoon session at 2 PM. Erik Kynard ended up winning the silver by being one of only two to clear 2.33m, Jesse Williams finished 9th clearing 2.25m, and Jamie Nieto finished 6th clearing 2.29m, but missing out on bronze because it took him two tries.
In the women’s long jump qualification round the US did quite well with Brittney Reese (9th – 6.57m) and Janay Deloach (2nd – 6.81m) advancing to the final while Chelsea Hayes (16th – 6.37m) just missing out on Wednesday’s final.
The rest of the action was on the track. First in the women’s 100m hurdles semifinals Dawn Harper (1st – 12.46), Lolo Jones (3rd – 12.71), and Kellie Wells (1st – 12.51) all made the final later that afternoon.
Next in the men’s 800m semifinals both Nick Symmonds (3rd – 1:44.87) and Duane Solomon (3rd – 1:44.93) both made Thursday’s final.
Then in the women’s 200m semifinals Carmelita Jeter (2nd – 22.39), Sanya Richards-Ross (1st – 22.30), and Allyson Felix (1st – 22.31) all made Wednesday’s final.
Then there was the final of the women’s 100m hurdles with Dawn Harper (12.37) winning the silver medal and Kellie Wells (12.48) finishing with the bronze. Lolo Jones finished in 4th (12.58). The winner, Sally Pearson of Australia, finished in an Olympic record time of 12.35.
The day ended with the men’s 1500m final. Leonel Manzano finished 2nd in 3:34.79 and won the silver, the first American man to medal in the 1500 since 1968. Matthew Centrowitz finished 4th in a time of 3:35.17.
Basketball
The women’s basketball team began the knockout round with a 91-48 victory over Canada in the quarterfinals. The dominating win featured 15 points from Diana Taurasi and 12 a piece from Candace Parker and Sylvia Fowles. The US will now face Australia in the semifinals on Thursday.
Beach Volleyball
The women’s beach volleyball competition was down to the semifinals on Tuesday. First Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh Jennings took on Chen Xue/Xi Zhang of China. Despite both sets being extremely close the US duo closed things out in straight sets 22-20, 22-20. Then April Ross/Jennifer Kessy took on Larissa Franca/Juliana Silva of Brazil and found themselves down a set after losing the first set 21-15. They rallied back though and forced a 3rd set by winning the 2nd 21-19. They won the match in the 3rd set when they beat the Brazilians 15-12. The final score was 15-21, 21-19, 15-12.
The two American teams will now face off the gold medal final on Wednesday at 4 PM.
Boxing
The final men’s boxer for the US, Errol Spence, fought Andrey Zamkovoy of Russia in the quarterfinals. In what is a trend in London a lot of US boxing fans though Spence was the better fighter but he lost the bout 16-11 to end his Olympics.
Canoeing
In the women’s K-1 500m sprint Carrie Johnson was in the 1st heat and finished 4th in 1:53.983 to reach the semifinals later Tuesday. In the semifinals Johnson finished 6th in her heat in 1:54.628 and was eliminated from the competition.
Cycling
In the women’s omnium Sarah Hammer beat Laura Trott by just over a second to stay in 1st after the individual pursuit. In the scratch race Sarah Hammer finished 2nd but was again one spot ahead of Laura Trott to open up a two-point lead heading into the time trial. Needing a 3rd place finish to atleast be tied for the lead Hammer came up about a .5 second short and finished 4th while Trott finished 1st by .03 seconds. Those two results combined to give Trott a one point victory over Hammer.
Diving
In the men’s 3m springboard semifinal both Troy Dumais and Chris Colwill were both in great position heading into the 5th dive, but Colwill had a disastrous dive and finished in 18th. Dumais avoiding any major mistakes and finished 5th to make the final. In the final Dumais once again finished 5th, missing out on bronze by around twenty five points.
Equestrian
In the equestrian grand prix special the US had three riders going. Tina Konyot on Calecto V finished in 25th with a 70.651 while Jan Ebeling on Rafalca finished in 28th with a 69.302, neither will make the final. Steffen Peters on Ravel did much better and finished 7th with a 76.254. Peters will be in the final on Thursday. The US finished 6th as a team with a 72.435.
Gymnastics
First in the women’s balance beam final Gabby Douglas struggled and finished 7th with a 13.633 while Aly Raisman initially finished 4th with a 14.966. After inquiry the score was raised to 15.066 and Raisman won the bronze on a tiebreaker for better execution score. Then in the men’s horizontal bar final Danell Leyva and Jonathan Horton both had good routines but not good enough to medal as Leyva finished 5th with a 15.833 and Horton finished 6th with a 15.466. Finally in the women’s floor final Jordyn Wieber had some mistakes and finished 7th with a 14.500 while Aly Raisman was spectacular and won her 2nd gold medal with a 15.600.
Sailing
In the men’s 470 competition Stuart McNay/Graham Biehl finished their competition with races 9 (7th place) and 10 (4th place). They finished in 14th place overall.
The women’s 470 competition held races 7 and 8 and Amanda Clark/Sarah Lihan had a great day. They finished in 3rd and 9th to move into 7th overall, 17 points clear of 10th. If they can have good finishes in races #9 and #10 on Wednesday they should make the medal race.
Finally in the elliott 6m quarterfinal with Finland the US lost the 1st race by a minute and the 2nd by three seconds. They now trail the match 2-0 and need to win all three remaining races on Wednesday.
Synchronized Swimming
In the synchronized swimming final Mary Killman/Mariya Koroleva finished11th overall with a score of 87.770.
Triathlon
In the men’s triathlon Hunter Kemper finished a couple minutes off the pace in 14th (1:48:46) while Manuel Huerta finished 51st (1:53:39).
Volleyball
In the women’s volleyball quarterfinals the US dominated the Dominican Republic in a straight sets win, 25-14, 25-21, 25-22. The result moved the US into a semifinal matchup with Korea on Thursday. The US beat Korea 25-19, 25-17, 20-25, 25-21 in the first match of the Olympics.
Water Polo
In the women’s water polo semifinals the US was up 9-8 with just a second left against Australia when they called timeout without the ball. The resulting penalty shot allowed Australia to tie it up and the two teams headed for extra time. In extra time the US dominated play and scored twice in the first half of extra time to go on to an 11-9 victory and move into the final on Thursday against Spain, who the US drew 9-9 with in the group stage.
Wrestling
In the final day of the greco-roman wrestling tournament and Justin Dashaun Lester was the last hope for the US. In the round of 16 he defeated Tsutomu Fujimura of Japan 3-0, 3-1 to move into the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals Lester lost to Tamas Lorincz of Hungary 0-2, 1-0, 2-0. He earned a chance at bronze as Lorincz made the final (winning silver) and so he faced Frank Staebler of Germany in the repechage. Staebler won that match 5-0, 5-0 to end any chance of Lester medaling.
